US misrepresented weapons danger, report says

Bush Administration officials "systematically" misrepresented the danger of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs, which were not an immediate threat to the United States and the Middle East, according to a report from a US think tank.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said in its study, WMD IN IRAQ: Evidence and Implications, that there was "no convincing evidence" that Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear program.

It also said that United Nations weapons inspectors had discovered that nerve agents in Iraq's chemical weapons program had lost most of their lethal capability as early as 1991.

There was greater uncertainty about Iraq's biological weapons but that threat was related to what could be developed rather than what Iraq already had, the study by the liberal-leaning think tank said.

The missile program appeared to have been in active development in 2002 and Iraq was expanding its capability to build missiles with ranges that exceeded UN limits, the report said.

The US justified going to war against Iraq last year citing a threat from Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction.

Since the allied occupation of Iraq, American forces hunting for weapons of mass destruction have not found any stockpiles of biological or chemical weapons or any solid evidence that Iraq had resurrected its nuclear weapons program.

It was unlikely Iraq could have destroyed, hidden, or moved out of the country hundreds of tonnes of chemical and biological weapons, dozens of Scud missiles and facilities producing chemical and biological weapons without the United States detecting some sign of that activity, the report said.

They lumped nuclear, chemical and biological weapons together as a single threat, despite the "very different" danger they posed, which distorted the cost/benefit analysis of the war, the study said.

The missile program appeared to have been in active development in 2002.

The report's release came as it was revealed the Bush Administration had quietly withdrawn from Iraq a 400-member military team whose job was to scour the country for military equipment.

The step was described by some military officials as a sign that the Administration might have lowered its sights and no longer expected to uncover the caches of chemical and biological weapons that the White House cited as a principal reason for going to war last March.

A separate military team that specialises in disposing of chemical and biological weapons remains part of the 1400-member Iraq Survey Group, headed by David Kay, which has been searching Iraq for more that seven months at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. But that team is "still waiting for something to dispose of", said a survey group member.

Senior intelligence officials have acknowledged in recent days that the weapons hunters still had not found weapons or active programs, but in interviews, they said the search must continue to ensure that no hidden Iraqi weapons surfaced in a future attack.

A US soldier died and 34 were wounded when insurgents fired mortars at a military base near Baghdad.

US officials said at least six mortar rounds struck a logistics base west of the capital on Wednesday, with some landing close to sleeping quarters.